The O's didn't have a second-round pick due to the signing of Mike Gonzalez but did grab a strong reliever in the third round with UCLA's Dan Klein, a right-hander with the repertoire to start but who has only pitched in relief in college due to a prior shoulder injury. I had sixth-rounder Dixon Anderson in my top 100 because of his ability to sink his fastball and the fact that he was in the mid-90s as a reliever last summer, while seventh-rounder Matt Bywater could be a fifth starter due to his above-average change.

Narron's hands and arm strength are both good enough that he should be able to step in as a freshman at North Carolina and play right away, probably at shortstop, if he doesn't sign. By the time he's draft-eligible again, he'll likely be a third baseman.

Narron was seen as a guy who may be tough to sign but Joe Jordan said this to The Sun:

"He’s a kid that is going to take maybe a little bit of time to get it done, but we feel good about what it’s going to cost, his desire to play. It’s just a matter of doing it the right way. He’ll be playing. He’ll be playing this summer."

He sounds confident that the O's can sign him...and sign him quick enough to get him playing in Bluefield. OK, that makes me feel a bit better too.

Camden Depot gave me this quick assessment of the Oriole draft this far via Twitter:

Well...I think Machado sucked the draft budget up. I figure they range between 9-10MM this year. Passed on a lot of preps....I think the value in this draft was HS. Are solid HS going to risk a slotted 2012 draft? think it drops cost.

Over the first 19 picks, the O's selected 4 high school positions players, 6 college position players, 6 college pitchers and 3 high school pitchers. There don't appear to be any impact players beyong Machado although there are some interesting arms in the later rounds.